Timberwolves stop Potosi/Cassville in overtime

By A.J. Gates

When it comes to the boys’ basketball rivalry between River Ridge and Potosi/Cassville, the best way to describe their two most recent meetings is that they were predictably unpredictable.

Having met twice this season, both games were decided in overtime, Potosi/Cassville winning the first meeting, 50-48, on Jan. 15, and River Ridge winning the second last Tuesday night, 58-56.

With last week’s win over P/C, coach Dan Moris and his Timberwolves shook up the conference standings and did Belmont a big favor in doing so.

Belmont, who defeated Highland the same night, improved to 13-2 in league play and 19-2 overall, and with their loss to River Ridge, coach Mike Uppena’s squad fell to 12-2, 14-7.

The P/C boys have since picked up victories over Shullsburg and Black Hawk, while Belmont has since beaten Argyle.

With both teams having two conference losses, the Six Rivers West title will be decided on Thursday night, when Belmont and Potosi/Cassville meet in the regular-season finale.

River Ridge, who improved to 12-3 with last Friday night’s win over Pecatonica, remains on the outside looking in, finishing third in the conference standings.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that last Tuesday night’s River Ridge and Potosi/Cassville contest would come down to the wire, needing an extra session to decide a winner.

After one half of play, the host Timberwolves were left clinging to a 24-22 advantage, only to see the second half play out as close as the first.

Early in the second half, River Ridge held a 30-26 lead over their opponent, then used a 7-4 run to take a 37-30 lead with 12 minutest to play.

During the next six minutes, Potosi/Cassville used an 11-4 scoring run of their own to even the score at 41-41 on a jumper by Alex Friederick with 8:14 showing on the clock.

The two teams would battle back and forth for the next four minutes until coach Uppena’s squad took their first lead of the half at 49-48 on a 3-pointer by Aaron Edge with 3:49 to play in regulation.

The Timberwolves fought their way back to a 52-50 lead with 1:35 to play on a bucket by Brock Bunge, and their lead held up after P/C came up empty on their ensuing possession.

With fouls to give, Potosi/Cassville eventually sent River Ridge sophomore Lane Copsey to the line, where he missed the front end of a bonus try with 18.9 seconds showing on the clock. Edge pulled down the rebound, while coach Uppena took a timeout with exactly 16 seconds to play in regulation.

Following the timeout, the P/C boys went the length of the court, where they found Ben Infield open for a 3-point attempt that bounced off the front of the rim. Rebounded by Friederick under the basket, he made a quick touch pass to Edge, who instinctively put the ball to beat the buzzer and send the game into overtime.

In the overtime session, both teams missed the front end of bonus tries in the first minute of play, before Ridge took a lead on a runner by junior Noah Copsey.

Aaron Edge evened things up at 54-54 on a pair of free throws with 2:29 showing on the clock, as River Ridge retook the lead on a bucket by Davis with 2:08 to play.

Edge went to the line again for the P/C boys with 1:37 showing on the clock, where he knocked down a pair of free throws to even the score at 56-56.

Davis put the Timberwolves back up with a drive to the basket at the 1:13 mark, as junior teammate Kameren Reynolds followed up with a big block at the other end, giving possession back over to the home team.

Davis was then sent to the line with 35 seconds to play for a chance to seal the victory, but instead missed the front end of a bonus try, giving the ball back over to their visitors.

Following a timeout by coach Uppena with 15.7 seconds to play, a pull-up jumper by Friederick at the free throw line failed to find its mark, as Davis pulled down the rebound to the sound of the final buzzer.

Despite missing the front end of three separate bonus attempts and going 0-for-3 from the free throw line, the Timberwolves did make 27-of-45 (60 percent) shot attempts from the field, including 4-of-11 (36 percent) from 3-point range.

They averaged an impressive 1.05 points per possession, thanks in large part to their game plan of attacking the basket to get high-percentage shots.

“We’ve been tweaking our offense a bit to cater to our strengths,” said coach Dan Moris. “It’s boosted Brandon Davis’ scoring output in recent games too. As a team, we’re really starting to see the court well and be more disciplined with our shot selection than we were earlier in the season.”

Davis concluded the contest with a game-high 27 points on 13-of-20 shot attempts, while also pulling down six rebounds and dishing out two assists.

Reese Drew chipped in 10 points for the Timberwolves, followed by Noah Copsey with eight, while Kameren Reynolds pulled down a team-high seven rebounds to go along with a team-high four assists.

“We knew Potosi/Cassville would play great defense and wouldn’t turn the ball over much. They’re a really good team,” said coach Moris. “We had to look for advantages when we could get them and then make sure we executed.”

“I’m really proud of the effort these guys play with, and the confidence they are building while competing,” Moris added. “Coming out on top in all of these close games hopefully serves us well as we head toward the postseason. It’s a good time to be playing well.”

The P/C boys, on the other hand, were 18-of-51 (35 percent) from the field, including 8-of-24 (33 percent) from 3-point range and 10-of-27 (43 percent) from inside the arc. They shot much better than their opponent from the free throw line, knocking down 12-of-16 (75 percent) attempts.

“I think that helped us stay in the game,” Uppena said of his team’s performance at the charity stripe. “We didn’t win it because of that, but it certainly kept us in it when we weren’t shooting well.”

“They had many more shots inside the arc than we did and that’s a huge problem when you’re giving up 34 shots to our 27, but they had 23 makes, a lot of them to the rim,” explained Uppena. “That allowed them to shoot an incredible percentage of almost 70% from inside.”

“I was a little disappointed that we allowed them to get in there like they did, and I think that was a big difference in the game,” Uppena added.

Edge led his team with 25 points on 8-of-17 shot attempts, while also dishing out a team-high four assists. Friederick chipped in 15 points, followed by Drew Richardson with nine. Friederick also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds to go along with a team-high three steals.

Coach Uppena’s squad rebounded from last Tuesday night’s loss to River Ridge with a 79-37 victory at Shullsburg the following Thursday night and a 75-37 victory against Black Hawk the following Friday night.

River Ridge followed up with a 77-71 victory over visiting Pecatonica the following Friday night

The Six Rivers West conference title will be decided this Thursday evening when the P/C boys (14-2, 16-7) travel to Belmont (14-2, 20-2).

With the WIAA boys’ basketball playoffs beginning on Tuesday, March 3, River Ridge (16-6) was given the No. 5 seed in their division 5 sectional bracket, with Potosi/Cassville (16-7) holding the No. 7 seed. The top seed belongs to North Crawford (18-4), with Kickapoo (21-2) holding the second seed.

River Ridge will begin tournament play against No. 12 seed La Farge/Youth Initiative (5-16), while Potosi/Cassville kicks off tournament play against No. 10 seed Boscobel (7-15).